Don't miss our weekly PhD newsletter | Sign up now Don't miss our weekly PhD newsletter | Sign up now
Languages, Literature & Culture (21)

  Research degrees in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies


  Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures

 Funded PhD Programme (Students Worldwide)

About the Programme

The School of Languages, Cultures and Societies is one of the UK’s leading centres for research and teaching in languages and cultures. Our academic community works across a variety of key themes including European works of literature from the medieval age to the 21st century, the Arab world, the cultures of South East Asia, gender, film, translation and interpreting, linguistics and language computing, and many more.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) 

MA by Research (MAR)

You can study for your PhD on-campus or by online learning.

Studying for your PhD in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies means that you'll become an expert in a specialist area and develop high-quality research skills, which will prepare you for further research projects in addition to pursuing specialist career paths.

Structure

As a postgraduate researcher, you’ll conduct original research work under the guidance of your supervisors. You'll have regular meetings to monitor your progress and develop an initial training plan to make sure you are acquiring the appropriate skills for your research.

Your initial priority is refining a research plan and establishing a feasible timescale for your project. During the early part of your PhD, you'll undertake a range of research methods modules to support your research activities.

For your first year (or 18 months if you are part-time) you'll be enrolled as a provisional postgraduate researcher, you'll develop a detailed research proposal and write a literature review. This work is submitted to a panel of examiners who will assess it and provide you with feedback and advice on the progress of your research.

This is called 'transfer' which is an important means of monitoring the progress of your work and assessing whether your proposal has enough weight to be accurately explored through a PhD research path.

After successful transfer, you'll enrol as a full postgraduate researcher, complete your research and write a thesis of approximately 100,000 words.

The degree of Doctor of Philosophy is awarded on the basis of this thesis, and your viva voce, where you'll present and discuss the rationale, methods and findings of your original study with an examining panel.

Duration

A PhD can be taken full-time (3 years standard) or part-time (five years standard).

Areas of supervision

Research opportunities are available across the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies. You can explore our research areas to discover more about our academic staff and where your research interests may fit. You can search our research opportunities database to search for a supervisor in your area.

Entry requirements

You should hold a good honours degree (upper second class or first class) in a related discipline. A Masters degree is not a formal requirement but your application will be seen more favourably if you have one - ideally you will have achieved, or be on track to achieve, a distinction or at least a high merit, especially in your Masters dissertation.

If English is not your first language, you'll also need an English language qualification, for example IELTS 6.5 with at least 6.0 in all components. The distance learning PhD requires IELTS score of 7.0 overall, no less than 6.5 in every component. For more details on alternative qualifications, see How to apply?

If you fall just short of the right IELTS level, you can improve your academic English to the standard needed to study a postgraduate research degree by taking one of the following pre-sessional courses:

Scholarships and fees

We offer a variety of scholarships for PhD students. Check the scholarships page to see the range of opportunities.

Fees for PhD programmes are set independently and reviewed on an annual basis. Check the University's fee page for current information.

PhD by online learning 

We offer a PhD by online learning which is available to UK, EU and international applicants, allowing you gain an advanced degree from anywhere with internet access. You can study at the time and place that best suits you, and our part time options lets you study alongside work and other commitments.

See our how to apply page for help with admissions. 

For all enquiries, please contact the Graduate School Office .


Funding Notes

Some or all of the PhD opportunities in this programme have funding attached. Applications for this programme are welcome from suitably qualified candidates worldwide. Funding may only be available to a limited set of nationalities and you should read the full programme details for further information.

Open Days


Register your interest for this programme



Where will I study?

Search Suggestions
Search suggestions

Based on your current searches we recommend the following search filters.